Smile, You're Gaming

When it comes to videogames, psychologists and social theorists have been asking the wrong questions. Instead of obsessing over the correlation between violence and videogames, researchers should ask why people - young boys, in particular - enjoy violent media so much in the first place.

The games industry has always looked up to the film industry as a model for its success, but it may want to start looking a little more closely. Rob Zacny examines how the tension between "gritty realism" and "family fun" is pulling both mediums apart at the seams.

For all their doom and gloom, videogames are pretty much always about the unqualified triumph of good over evil, a happy occasion that's pretty rare in everyday life. So why do critics insist that games need to be polluted with more ambiguity?